1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to radio-controlled miniature vehicles, and more particularly to a radio-controlled vehicle having four-wheel steering capabilities.
2. Description of Related Art
Radio-controlled land vehicles have become quite developed and sophisticated and, in many cases, mirror the functional and structural capabilities of their full-sized drivable counterparts. One aspect of full-sized off road and land buggy type vehicles which has been imported into the radio controlled models is that of four-wheel drive characteristics. These off road and land buggy type vehicles utilize extreme four-wheel drive characteristics to achieve very unique steering performance characteristics.
A number of prior art systems and devices are known to afford various four-wheel steering characteristics. Mullaney et al. teaches a radio controlled toy vehicle with movable front end in U.S. Pat. No. 5,882,241. U.S. Patent Application Publication US 2006/0289218 to Allen discloses a vehicle capable of turning 360° and a four-wheel steering assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,347,434 to Lewis, et al. United Kingdom Patent 2,278,064 to Kang teaches a radio-controlled car with rotatable driver having two independent motor-gear boxes to turn front and wheels in the same or opposite directions.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,305,041 to Schramm discloses a four-wheel steering system for tractors having front and rear steerable pairs of wheels. Ishii et al. teaches a steering control system for vehicular four-wheel steering mechanisms in U.S. Pat. No. 4,105,086. A multiple wheel steering mechanism is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,510 to Diierwald et al.
Chikuma et al. teaches a four wheel steering apparatus in U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,852 which permits increase of the steering angle of the rear wheels to be effected only in a relation to the steering angle of the front wheels and which also permits a reduction of the steering angle of the rear wheels independently of the steering of the front wheels
U.S. Pat. No. 5,503,586 to Suto discloses a gear system for use as a steering system in a toy vehicle for controlling the vehicle's wheels so as to have the vehicle move ahead or turn on the spot. A remotely operated model vehicle height adjustment device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,527,059 to Lee, Jr.
Piston or gas engine powered R/C land vehicles are known to achieve very high speeds in the range of 40 to 60 mph. Utilized conventional two-wheel or four-wheel steering technology for such vehicles taxes the capabilities of current R/C servo or actuator and linkage technology with respect to both strength and stability.
The present invention provides an improved four-wheel steering system for R/C vehicles of the high performance and high speed capability category which enhances both strength and performance capability of the four-wheel drive steering system by providing two separate servo or actuator mechanisms simultaneously delivering power to the steering system in parallel to provide extreme performance and stability in a four-wheel drive steering system.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.